NBA Fantasy: Rudy Gay, Rashard Lewis, Billups and Steve Nash

Line of the Night:Rudy Gay (3.43) led the Grizzlies to a 104-90 win over the Pacers with 30 points, 8 rebounds and a season-high 5 steals. After a blazing start to the season, it’s Gay’s first 30+ point game since Nov 6th. Still, Gay is currently ranked #4 on our player rater and is putting up career high numbers across the board so far this season. I think he should celebrate the good news with a dunk.

Honorable Mentions: Contrary to popular belief, Rashard Lewis (1.93) isn’t dead, he’s just in Washington. And in his first start with the Wizards, Lewis scored 21 points and hit 4-8 from three. Shockingly, he also grabbed 12 boards, which is his first double-digit rebounding game all season; The Suns are falling apart as we speak, but Steve Nash (1.87) keeps keeping on with 21 points and 15 assists; Tony Parker (1.73) took advantage of Kirk Hinrich and the Wizards to score 20 points with 14 assists; and Chauncey Billups (1.63) has looked great since returning from injury. In his third game back he scored 24 points, hitting 4-6 from three and going 8-8 from the line. However, his hot streak has corresponded exactly with Carmelo Anthony’s absence from the team.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night:Luke Ridnour (2.31) is holding strong even with Jonny Flynn back from injury. Still staring for the Wolves, Ridnour scored 23 points against the Cavs, adding 5 boards, 6 assists and 5 threes. He’s currently owned in 40% of leagues, so he’s not exactly a deep league special.

Pickup Lines: Mickael Pietrus (1.57) on the other hand is available in 95% of Yahoo leagues. Pietrus led the Suns in scoring with a season-high 25 points, hitting 5 threes and going 9-14 from the field. Pietrus is known to have an explosive game every once in a while when his three is falling. He’s worth a pickup as long as Vince Carter is out, but I wouldn’t expect consistent performances like this from him going forward.

Anthony Parker scored a season-high 21 points, with 7 boards and 7 assists against Minnesota. The Wolves are currently last in the league in points allowed at 110 per game, so I would not read too much into this one performance from Parker. Still, he seems to be coming out of an early season funk and his doing enough to be worth a look in deep leagues.

Biggest Loser:Marco Belinelli (-0.98). 0 points, 3 rebounds and 0 assists for Belinelli, who was 0-6 from the field against the Hawks. It’s not exactly the type of performance Belinelli wants with Marcus Thornton breathing down his neck for the starting job.

On Tap: New Orleans (18-12) at Minnesota (7-24) – With the Wolves allowing their opponents to score on them like your sister on prom night, make to sure get all Hornets in your lineup for this one. Yes, that even means Marco Belinelli.

Philadelphia (12-18) at Golden State (11-18) – Stephen Curry is back for the Warriors after missing 6 games with a sprained ankle. Should his owners be worried that his ankle is only 85%? We’ll have our answer when he injuries his ankle yet again this week. Just joking…

Orlando (18-12) at New Jersey (9-21) – Four games in and the new look Orlando Magic is starting to take shape. It’s not good news for Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas, but Hedo Turkoglu and Brandon Bass seem to be enjoying themselves.